The Truth Room
by Jojo6
Summary: Heck, the title really explains it pretty well. S/J. Pre-Meridian.


Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 is an original MGM, Greenburg/Anderson, Gekko, Top Secret, Kawoosh! production. Any material relating to Stargate SG-1 is for entertainment only, and is in no way meant as an infringement on copyrights. In other words, I own nadda. 

Spoilers: Divide and Conquer, In the Line of Duty 

A/N: Oh, come on, I can't be the only one who's thought of this. Actually, that's nothing to be proud of is it? Damn, I have no sense of originality *sighs*. 

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As soon as they'd worked out by accident that the Truthsingers were, ironically, telling the truth about the room and it's properties, Sam had shut the hell up. While she was internally wondering just how the walls, or the room, or the air or whatever could tell when they were lying, she wasn't going to say anything about it. Just in case the obvious happened and she was forced into a situation she really, really didn't want to be put in. Something about being forced to tell the truth in front of her father, and her CO, and their friends, smacked of Anise and the zay'tarc machine and that just made her cringe. 

Her father and Colonel O'Neill, on the other hand, had no qualms about raising any particular issues they felt it necessary to air. 

'' Well, this is another fine mess the Tok'ra have got us into, Jacob. Thank you so much,'' the Colonel snapped sarcastically. 

Jacob glowered across the room. '' As I recall, Jack, you were all for the idea when we brought it to you.'' 

'' Just that, as usual, you forgot to mention the fact that people on this planet are nuts,'' he shouted. 

All around them, the walls of the room started to turn a soft shade of red. 

Jacob smiled smugly. '' Actually, I did mention that the natives were.... unusual.'' 

The red began to ebb away back to the usual strange, metallic grey. Sam had run her hands over the walls a little earlier, but had detected no hidden warmth, no unusual coolness. She'd pressed her ear to it while it was changing, she'd knocked, she'd even (discretely) licked it, but nothing seemed to strike her as unusual. It was some kind of metal, but she would need at least a sample to analyse it beyond that. 

'' Guys, at least we're in a no danger,'' Daniel put in, glancing at Teal'c wearily. '' For once.'' 

'' Indeed, O'Neill, DanielJackson is right.'' 

'' Oh, shut up.'' 

He really was in a very bad mood, Sam reflected, watching her CO through her eyelashes. She'd tucked herself into a corner early on in the course of their incarceration, just in case the Truthsingers knew what they were talking about. She wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible and so far it was working out just fine, but she knew, sooner or later, the Colonel would notice her, and pick on her. He'd demand she come up with a solution, like she was a magician who had a bunch of flowers of her sleeve, and she was afraid she didn't have a solution beyond the obvious: they just had to wait until they were let out. The natives were unusual but they weren't hostile. Why they had put SG-1 and Sam's dad in the room she didn't know, she could only wait and see. 

'' Jack, what is it about the Tok'ra that bothers you so much?'' 

'' Isn't it obvious?'' 

'' Come now, let's have this out once and for all. We can be honest here, can't we?'' Jacob laughed slightly, but all eyes were focussed on the Colonel. 

Oh God, Sam thought. She had an awful feeling that she knew where this was going. Damn her father for putting the Colonel in this position. She prayed Colonel O'Neill didn't say anything too damning, because she knew for a fact that her father would be on him like a tiger. 

However, she needn't have worried. Colonel O'Neill was smiling slightly. '' The truth, Jacob? The truth is, from the very beginning the Tok'ra have led us in to scrape after scrape and then left us to sort it out.'' 

Daniel, Teal'c and Sam glanced up at the walls. Nope. Still grey. 

'' You can't seriously believe that,'' Jacob scoffed. '' You get into enough problems without us, surely?'' 

'' Yes, we do. But you're supposed to be our allies. If you're not outright lying to us, you're using us as guinea pigs.'' 

'' Jack, you're taking the worst examples of our relationship and using them to taint the whole picture.'' 

The Colonel tilted his head to the side. '' So? Why does that bother you? I don't like the Tok'ra. Why does that piss you off so much?'' 

'' I AM TOK'RA!'' 

Sam shrunk back into the corner as Selmac's voice came through. Man, she really hated when that happened. Suddenly, he wasn't her father any more and though she knew Selmac was a perfectly nice.... parasite, she couldn't help but associate them with the Goa'uld. Her own experience of Jolinar, while she considered it in an entirely different light now, and seen the impossible situation Jolinar had been put in, really didn't help matters much. She was still incredibly creeped out by the whole idea. 

'' Okay, look, Jack, Jacob, can you both calm down. Shouting at each other isn't helping,'' Daniel interrupted again, hoping to smooth things over. He smiled at them both tentatively. '' We might be in here for some time, after all.'' 

'' Yeah, about that. Carter? You got any bright ideas?'' the Colonel demanded, his head whipping around to glare at his second in command. '' You've been awful quiet over there.'' 

Sam regarded him seriously. '' The only way out is however they put us in, Colonel. There's nothing we can do about it for the time being.'' 

He sighed heavily, and disappointedly. '' Great.'' 

'' It's not her fault,'' Jacob said peevishly. 

'' I'm not saying it's her fault,'' the Colonel replied, equally peevishly. 

'' Did you two take something before we came in here?'' Daniel wanted to know, clearly at the end of his tether. '' Or are you just in similar bad moods?'' 

Teal'c frowned more heavily than he normally did. '' It is most unusual for you to be arguing in this manner. Perhaps it would be best if you remained in silence for the rest of our incarceration?'' 

Colonel O'Neill looked at the Jaffa with his eyebrows high on his forehead. '' Is that your polite way of telling us to shut up?'' 

Teal'c smiled as much as he always did, his eyes twinkling, and inclined his head. '' It is, O'Neill.'' 

The Colonel's mouth twitched. '' Good one, Teal'c. Jacob, what do you say?'' 

Jacob was now looking at his daughter, and it was, frankly, making Sam nervous. '' Why are you being so quiet, anyway? I would have thought you'd find this fascinating.'' 

'' I do, Dad,'' she replied simply, thinking her answer out carefully beforehand. 

'' That's it?'' Colonel O'Neill snorted. '' You have nothing else to say? Where are the fifty syllable words?'' 

'' I don't have any equipment with me, so there's very little I can deduce,'' Sam managed, uncomfortable with the attention entirely being on her. This room was completely freaking her out - she was just waiting for someone to ask her an uncomfortable question which she couldn't avoid by lying. 

'' So... who wants to play truth or dare?'' Daniel suggested suddenly, rubbing his hands together. '' Anyone?'' 

________________________________________ 

Sam awoke from her doze against the wall to find out that there had been some position hopping. Daniel had moved over to sit next to Jacob and was asking Selmac questions about her previous hosts' cultures, Teal'c was kel-nor-reeming in the corner and the Colonel was standing up against a wall, staring fixedly across the room. 

She ripped the Velcro off her watch and sighed. It had been two hours, that's all. And it certainly felt longer. The tension from Jacob and her CO had ebbed somewhat but it was still there. She knew the Colonel had been pissed off with the Tok'ra for turning up moments before SG-1 were due their downtime but the chance of a sarcophagus (disproved now) had been too much too let slide. The fact that they were now effectively trapped had done nothing to improve his feelings on the situation. 

She must have made a slight noise because she felt his eyes on her suddenly. Glancing up and locking eyes with him was a bad idea, too, because from the look in his eyes it had suddenly given him an idea. 

'' Carter, did you have a date tonight?'' 

The room, previously filled with the quiet voices of Selmac and Daniel, became silent. Jacob resurfaced and he looked at his daughter with interest. 

'' Date? I didn't know you were dating, Sam,'' Jacob said in tones of a man who had long since accepted that his little girl went out with men he probably didn't approve of. 

'' Jack,'' Daniel chastised, slightly amused, '' that's not fair.'' 

'' Why? I'm her friend, aren't I? I can ask, can't I?'' 

Sam sucked her cheeks in and glared at him. '' Taking advantage of the situation, aren't we, Colonel?'' 

He smiled at her in that sarcastic way of his. She hated when he did that to her. '' You betcha. Well?'' 

She couldn't believe this... '' Yes, I do. Why do you ask, Colonel?'' 

There! she thought triumphantly as he looked down at the floor. That had turned the tables, hadn't it? 

He toed the solid ground with his combat boot. '' Heard you and the Doc talking about it. Do you think it's wise to date other personnel in the SGC?'' 

'' Since he's a part-time field tactician, Colonel, I don't see a problem. I rarely have any professional contact with him on base.'' In fact, she hadn't known he'd existed until he'd walked into her lab and just outright asked her to dinner. 

His response was swift and sharp, '' What about personal?'' 

She flushed; if he was insinuating what she thought he was insinuating, then she was genuinely insulted. 

Her father's conscience finally raised it's head. '' Jack, Daniel's right, you're taking advantage of the situation.'' 

'' Oh, right, like you didn't earlier,'' he snapped back. Then his eyes turned to Sam and she cringed back into the wall. 

Okay, this was the type of thing she'd been trying to avoid. He was hurting, had been hurting for some time since the only time she'd spoken about this date with Janet had been in the infirmary last Wednesday. She'd been trying to keep it from him, deliberately, because she didn't think a first date with a guy she had only said yes to because she'd been too surprised had been anything he needed to worry about. If they'd been alone, she would have reassured him of that, but, as it was, she couldn't. Not without it looking odd. 

'' He's got a kid, you know.'' 

She nodded. '' I do know, yes. A little girl.'' She smiled tightly. '' Samantha, actually.'' 

'' Isn't that sweet?'' 

The walls turned slowly to red, but that didn't matter to him. He'd meant everyone to know what he'd thought about that. 

'' Don't be cruel,'' she whispered, her eyes holding his angrily. '' Don't do this here.'' 

'' Is there something I should know about?'' 

They released each other's gaze and both of them looked away guiltily. 

Jacob stood up, his jaw clenching and unclenching angrily, his eyes flickering between the two of them rapidly. He was taking on his three star General persona, one Sam knew too well. '' I'm not kidding, Jack, Sam. What's going on? There's more to this. Don't you think I can tell?'' 

Furiously, Sam stared at the toes of her boots. She wasn't going to say a thing from now onwards. Nothing. 

'' It's nothing, Jacob.'' 

But the bloody red of the walls belied his words. 

It was a damn trap, Sam couldn't help but think. What was it about the truth that did this to people? Or the idea of the truth, perhaps. 

If they left them in here long enough, she just knew they'd tear each other apart. '' Dad, drop it. I'll tell you later,'' she said eventually, trying to sweep everything under the rug. 

Colonel O'Neill pointed a straight finger at her threateningly. '' No, you most definitely will not.'' 

'' Oh, my God, you'd better not be... Samantha, I thought I taught you better than this,'' Jacob exclaimed, looking in horror from his daughter to his daughter's CO. 

Scrunching up her face in pain, Sam pulled her knees up to her chest and lowered her head down onto them. '' This cannot be happening,'' she whispered. '' This cannot be happening.'' 

'' I want answers now.'' 

She knew that tone of voice. He'd used it on young, fresh recruits. He'd used it on her. He'd used it on Mark. She lifted her weary head and opened her mouth to tell him something, anything, but the Colonel beat her to it. 

'' There's nothing... there are no answers,'' he whispered, sounding battered. She couldn't help but stare at him, neither could her father. And, down on the floor, Daniel watched the scene unfold with unfettered fascination. 

'' You haven't broken any regulations?'' Jacob asked, just to clarify, a hand out in front of him. 

'' None,'' Colonel O'Neill replied. 

'' No, Dad, we haven't,'' Sam added, to back him up. They exchanged a grateful glance, then looked back at her father. 

'' But... if you,'' Jacob swallowed to clear his throat, obviously slowly adjusting to this new, strange idea, '' if you weren't.... CO and 2IC....'' 

'' Then we wouldn't be having this conversation, Jake,'' the Colonel said, smiling suddenly but fleetingly. 

'' Right.'' Jacob pulled at his Tok'ra shirt suddenly, straightening it. '' That's... a thought I'll have to consider.'' With new eyes, he looked the Colonel up and down, assessing him with a different role in mind. '' Just how close are you to retirement, Jack?'' 

Sam shot upright. '' Dad!'' 

This time, her CO's grin was broad and genuine. He lifted up his hand to show a thumb and forefinger a centimetre apart. '' This close.'' 

Really? Sam couldn't help but think eagerly. 

Wait, no, that wasn't the point. '' Oh for God's sake,'' she muttered, tucking herself back into her corner. She wasn't going to say a thing. Not another word. But when they left that room... that was another matter. Both of them were going to catch it. 

'' So..... Sam. Remember when you were sixteen and I found you in your bedroom with Lieutenant Cameron? Were you really looking for your earring?'' 

Even Daniel laughed at that. 

'' Bastards.'' 

________________________________________ 

Since they were the only two who were awake, Sam gave up her corner and crawled over to sit next to her CO, her mood rather less tense that it previously had been. The conversation with her father seemed to have aired an issue that had needed airing for some time. Jacob had taken it better than Sam had thought - he even, God forbid, approved, which was a new experience for Sam. 

Once she was settled in next to him, he smiled at her tentatively. '' Sorry about earlier.'' 

'' I know. I didn't mean to hurt you.'' 

'' He's a good guy.'' 

'' Is he? I wouldn't know. I've only actually put his name to his face fairly recently.'' She grinned up at him and saw the answering grin in his eyes. 

'' Oh. I thought....'' 

'' I know what you thought. You were wrong. You could have just asked me somewhere a little less... public.'' 

'' I didn't want to make it seem like you had to run your dates past me.'' 

Something in that sentence triggered a response in the walls. While they didn't turn their usual red colour, the metallic grey was tinted ever-so-slightly with pink. '' Um, that's a new one,'' she said, turning to look around the room. '' Did you just... I don't know, lie slightly?'' 

'' Ah... I don't think so.'' 

The walls bled swiftly to red and she smiled. '' No?'' 

He made an uncomfortable face and looked across the room where Daniel had curled up and was snoozing quietly. '' Okay, it was just an idea, but if you could, like, warn me in advance about guys you may or may not... like... that would be really useful.'' 

'' Why? So you can look threateningly at them in the corridors?'' 

Jack cleared his throat. '' I don't know what you're talking ab... ah, damnnit. I hate this place,'' he muttered mutinously, the tinge to his face matching the colour on the wall. 

She rolled her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. '' On the other hand, my father didn't explode.'' 

'' Yeah, I noticed that.'' He turned his head and lightly rubbed his mouth over her fringe of hair. She heard him breath in sharply and her eyes fluttered closed as the urge to lift her head and meet his mouth with her own became paramount in her thoughts. '' So, you and a Lieutenant Cameron. Interesting.'' 

'' Oh, shut up.'' 

'' Any other guys in your past I should know about?'' 

Sam grinned, then lowered her voice teasingly, '' Trust me, you really don't want to know.'' 

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A/N: There won't be a sequel to this because I've said all I wanted to say - SG-1 got themselves out of their mess by one of the following methods: Thor / another SG team / a duo of scientists / the Tok'ra (boy, that would really piss Jack off) / Sam suddenly came up with an escape plan/Daniel convinced the natives to let them out/it was all a ploy of the natives to see if they were trustworthy. Personally, I like the last one. 

Also, the date was a bust. But that was mainly because Jack, Daniel and Teal'c managed to get a table really close to Sam and her date's and she spent the whole night trying not to look at them. The date caught on towards the end of the meal and suggested they join the rest of SG-1. He got on really well with everyone, which freaked Sam out no end and they both decided they wouldn't be seeing each other romantically again. 


End file.
